Okay, we're gonna go ahead and get started.

Uh we were on item 5A.

We have a motion from Vice Mayor Nielsen, a second from Councilmember Weiss.

And at this time, uh we are voting again to adopt resolution 1029-0526 to set forth the fiscal year 2027 tentative budget and establishing the city's annual expenditure limit and authorize the mayor, city manager or city attorney and city clerk to execute the necessary documents.

So with that, could you please vote?

Okay, item passes five to two.

Ron, next item, please.

Council's direction to bring forth a resolution to order and call a special election for public safety general obligation bond in November 2026.

So last year, council city um city council provided direction to staff to form a citizen bond committee to make a recommendation to council regarding the use of bond funds for future capital projects.

Members of the committee attended four meetings and reviewed the city's CIP plan, its remaining bond authorization at the time, its prior use of bond funds, and the city's property tax rate.

The city recommended and uh city council approved, placing two bond questions on the November ballot, one for parks and recreation and libraries, and one for public safety.

The parks and rec and libraries question passed, the public safety bond failed by just 13 votes.

So cities council's direction to staff was to bring the public safety question once again to discuss the option of calling a bond election in November of this year for up to $55 million.

So the public safety bond would include these five projects from police, fire and medical, and city courts.

These are the same projects the bond committee previously recommended to council last year.

The first is Southern Avondale Fire and Police Substation, the new public safety headquarters, the police firearms training facility, main police station expansion, and the city court expansion.

The facility is currently under a design and will provide greater response times for all residents by keeping the crew the fire crews closer to their first two areas and will assist in serving major events at the raceway.

Similarly, it will include a briefing and office location for police officers, enhancing visibility, reducing response times, and improving overall patrol services.

A new building to house these critically important functions is needed within the next 10 years.

Access to those facilities is becoming increasingly limited, and it takes officers out of their patrol areas for longer periods of time.

A proposed training facility would provide officers a local and accessible place to hone their skills, maintain their certifications, and improve their response and overall patrol availability.

The majority of police personnel are located at the main headquarters on the city hall campus.

It includes dispatch, evidence storage, crime lab, and support services to improve coordination, response, and accountability.

The building was designed for expansion to address needed space for growth, and this project would complete the final build out of the Avondale police station.

The city court, like police and fire, is also experiencing increased caseloads and demand for services.

As such, the court is out of space within its existing footprint.

As you can see from the photos, staff are working in our file rooms, which were not intended to house employees.

Increased workloads mean more files, and files must be stored for statutorily required time frames.

This project would address the need for additional offices and storage.

One of the important aspects of the recommendation is to look at the property tax rate, which is what pays for the bonds.

So thanks to the city's continued growth and stable property values, new bonds can be issued without increasing the property tax rate.

This is possible by issuing new bonds as older bonds are paid off.

So once a portion of the debt is paid down, new capacity becomes available to reinvest in improvements.

Projects will be timed to match this available capacity, and the city council must approve each bond issuance before it moves forward.

So this slide is a visual depiction of how that works with the primary property tax in blue, the secondary property tax, which pays for the bonds in orange.

And as that orange debt gets paid off, then we have capacity to issue new debt in green.

That would allow us to keep a steady property tax rate.

So the recommendation for council this evening is to approve a resolution to order and call a special election for public safety general obligation bonds.

There are some other things for council to take into consideration is whether other taxing districts will also be playing placing measures on the ballot this November.

We have to keep in mind that cities and towns appear last in the sequencing on a ballot.

Another factor is voter participation.

Last year was a special election that was a completely mail-in election, a mail-in ballot.

This year's election would expect to see higher voter participation.

And lastly, is whether there are other districts measures that could affect the outcome of the City of Avondale's bond question.

So if council were to approve the call for election, the next steps would be notifying Maricopa County and develop informational items for the public and conducting outreach.

This year, the first day to cast a ballot will be October 7th, and election day will be on November 3rd.

If the bond authorization is approved by voters, projects would be incorporated into the city's CIP in the appropriate year and will be subject to council approval during the annual budget process.

So this does conclude my presentation, and I will turn it over to the mayor for any questions or council discussion.

Thank you, Renee.

And at this time, the city council have any questions regarding this item.

And again, as a reminder, debate and opinion shall be held until after the motion.

I do have a question, Renee.

Just a mere fact if there are other entities that will have bonds.

You said that'd be on the third page or the last page or whatever it might be.

How might that affect, or you have any idea how that might affect if there's two or three or four or five bonds going on at the same time?

So mayor, vice mayor.

So knowing that cities and towns will always appear last, that means that voters will have to get towards the end of the ballot.

We know from the results of our prior election that fewer people voted as the uh questions went on on the ballot.

So in our own um questions last year, we had more people voting in our first question than in our second.

And I guess that would be the other question I would have.

Do we need to do more or where we planning to do more outreach, publicity, whatever it might be, to make sure that that information gets out so that it get through all of them?

Mr.

Mayor, Council, uh, Vice Mayor, yes, um, we will continue to educate, um, do outreach of the community, uh, inform them about what's on the ballot.

Of course, we won't be advocating for it, only educating.

Um, I I'm under the impression that other organizations are ready to step in and do whatever it is they wish to do.

Um, we also believe after talking to the consultant that given the number of voters expected, some of the negative side effects that happened in the last uh go-around are should be um mitigated.

Um, that more numbers uh um dilute some of the negative impacts from being on the last page, um, some other things that happened in the last uh uh election.

Thank you very much.

Any other questions from council?

Okay, at this time, can I get a motion for staff's recommendation for item five Bot a motion for Council Member Solorio, a second from Vice Mayor Nielsen?

Um if there's no other discussion, just my opinion that uh we have to go for this.

And I would hope that council sees the benefit in assisting our public safety and getting this over the hump.

We were so close last time.

And as you mentioned, um, Ron, that uh there are organizations out there not only um prepared to move forward in um getting this over the finish line, but more importantly, uh, based upon last time's experience until now, I believe are even better positioned to communicate, advocate and most importantly, educate on the importance of passing this bond.

And so I for one um am excited that we're gonna go back out for this because it's so um uh current, and I believe that we have the infrastructure set up to to make this a success.

Any other council members?

Uh councilmember Garcia, and then I'll come to Councilmember White.

I think it's really important, you know, as we move forward with this bond that we educate well to the community what it's for, but also 13 votes.

Like how important is it to vote?

I know you know a lot of people are like blackpilled about that voting doesn't count.

And maybe federally, whatever those conspiracies could be there, but locally it matters the most.

So I look forward to seeing this back out there.

I hope that people who are really for this are out there advocating and telling people how important it is to vote and to vote yes on this bond because this bond is going to support the city very well.

And we definitely, out of all those things, I am for the training center and for a new court, like to help the court because I have been in there and they are very, very tight.

So um I will be voting yes, but I really hope that we continue to advocate properly.

Mr.

Mayor, can I just clarify something, Councilmember Garcia uh said?

Uh it was 13 votes, which means seven voters.

If seven voters had voted in the other direction, um, it would have passed.

So it made it even that much closer.

Even more important.

Councilmember White.

I just wanted to hear the cost of the police training facility again.

And Mr.

Mayor and Council, Councilmember White, while she's pulling those numbers up, um, these are all very preliminary numbers.

They don't include inflation.

There's a lot of unknowns um moving in this direction, whether we do it on city land, which we have some ideas, there's lots of unknowns.

Um we don't know that 55 will get all the projects done, but it'll make a heck of a dent in getting these uh projects done.

Uh, if it passes, of course, council has input in the priorities and how it gets spent and those kinds of things, but um, it's all uh estim early estimates and any numbers.

And our estimate, um, mayor, vice mayor, and council member white, the estimate is between 10 and 12 million.

Is it possible to get grant funding for that type of building?

Is that something we've ever done or is that something that we could do?

Um, council member White, um, we can certainly look for grants that would be applicable to uh an expenditure like that.

Okay.

Uh Mr.

Corbin, is that something that's possible?

There's grant funding ever available for um actual uh infrastructure.

Uh thank you, uh Mr.

Mayor, Vice Mayor, Councilmember, Councilmember Whites.

Um, I've not seen it um for a building per se, uh, but often the equipment inside, the training devices uh to help bring the cost down.

Yes, sometimes uh we partner with um landowners, you know, federal landowners that sometimes help us out or the county.

So there's lots of opportunities to look.

Uh our probably one of our um uh if the bond doesn't pass, um, we have a couple options for several of these projects.

Um, none of them are perfect.

Um, but bonding would be uh, or I'm sorry, getting grants would be something we would uh make an effort for.

I would argue that um corresh correct um congressional direct spending might be the best way to get a large number like that.

Um, transportation often has more big grants um than this types of things, but um, we could absolutely uh put in some effort for it.

But um hopefully the the bond will pass and we'll be able to make this a priority.

Thank you, uh Mayor.

I think the only thing I would recommend, I'm gonna be voting for this.

Um, this is something that is vital for our community.

I don't think we should be sharing training facilities anymore.

If I just got a nice new shiny training facility updated, and I think it's important that um I do love Glendale and I do appreciate the fact that they open up their facility.

I think you and I were there before uh with Senator Kelly when he'd come out and visited that location.

But I think that they are getting small and we're not a priority for them.

And so um, when you're not a priority um somewhere, you have to go elsewhere to become that priority.

So I think that as long as we are going to um put safety first, um, we should put safety first and we should um ask our voters to get behind us.

I think also um I would only just make a commentary as to I'm not sure who was carrying the water to the public.

Um, but council member Garcia brought up a good point.

It was a loss of really seven votes.

Um, so um maybe we have to look at the messaging and we um have to look at how it goes out to the public.

I know that our clerk's office did an amazing job.

The bond committee did an amazing job.

Um, but communicating to the voters is probably going to be more important.

They're gonna want to see those folks and have a good association and then um barring nothing happening out in the public that we have no control over because there were a lot of non-controllables um last year.

I believe that this is something that you know voters can advocate to make sure we protect our police and fire because they're protecting us and training facilities and having the right equipment and the right infrastructure is what they need.

Thank you.

Councilmember Solorio.

Um, Councilmember Garcia said, and you know, wanting these types of things, and it's important to educate people.

I think sometimes how the message is conveyed doesn't come across.

We all know that when we get to like voting cycles and we're looking at different bonds and stuff, we kind of lose interest in some of the language that might be there, or maybe one word doesn't make sense to us, but probably the most basic way that we could explain it to people and then really encourage people.

I know that we can't actively participate, but door knocking goes a long way.

And some of us have more experience in door knocking than others.

So, you know, people can volunteer to do that and be out there sharing the true right message for it.

Because I'm gonna agree with councilmember White and Councilmember Garcia, we need our own firearms training facility.

We should at this day and age we have a canine center.

Why can't we have this?

Anything else from council member?

Um, really quickly, uh Council Mr.

Slor, if you wouldn't mind making the motion.

Can you read the motion?

Motion to adopt resolution one zero three zero-0526 ordering and calling a special bond election to be held November 3rd, 2026, and authorize the mayor or city manager, city attorney, and city clerk to execute the necessary documents.

With that, can we get a vote?

Item passes unanimously.

Good job.

Okay.

Item 5C, please, Ron.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor and Council.

Up next, we have a presentation by Josh Orton, our lead senior planner.

This is for uh Habitat for Humanity Humanity, Historic Avondel Infill Overlay Rezone Application.

You do need Mayor and Vice Mayor and Council members.

Item 5C is the habitat for humanity, historic Avondale infill overlay rezone.

This is application planning application PL 250236.

The purpose of tonight's item is to review the proposed historic Avondale Info Overlay or HIO for the Habitat for Humanity Housing Project, conduct a public hearing and take appropriate action.

The purpose of the Hio District is to promote and facilitate the development and redevelopment of vacant and underutilized or abandoned properties within the city's revitalization area.

It's been established as a method to address potentially incompatible development standards while maintaining the character of the surrounding area.

The HIO is intended to allow for alternative standards to be used when other tools available in the zoning ordinance will not work to address the development needs of the property.

This rezone is accompanied by a development plan that will adopt these alternative development standards.

The property is located west of the northwest corner of Fifth Street and Hill Drive.

It's just across from the Hill Tract Estates housing development that was done approximately 12 to 15 years ago.

As you can see in the general plan land use and underlying zoning, those will remain the same.

This action is purely to adopt a historic overlay and corresponding development plan.

The property is currently vacant with an existing Roosevelt Irrigation District easement that runs along through the middle of that neighborhood block.

And you can see it's kind of fenced off in the background.

Looking west along East Hill Drive, you can see off to your left.

That is the Hill Tract Estates development.

And then looking east along uh East Hill Drive is uh Fifth Street.

The development is proposing a reduction in the perimeter setbacks as well as the building coverage and minimal want dimensions for this project.

The intent is for the developer to be able to subdivide and sell these units to individual home buyers.

And you can see some of the modifications to the R Ford multifamily standards.

It's important to note that this will not increase the overall height of the district.

It'll remain uh the same as any other multifamily district.

Speaking a little bit more about the project and the development plan, this project is two duplexes, so a total of four single family attached dwelling units.

They'll be accessed off of Hill Drive utilizing a portion of that Roosevelt Irrigation District easement, and the final buildings will be three stories with two car garages located on the first floor.

These will also include private fenced yards.

And they'll be attached with uh sidewalks as well.

The applicant proposed three conceptual building elevations, and those are located in this in the staff report.

However, I'm going to show you one here.

Uh, there are no modifications again to the underlying district's height limitation, and the final design will comply with the city's design manuals as well as the international residential building code.

And then all elevations will be subject to administrative approval at a later date.

These are representative of the overall quality and nature of the final design that the applicants proposed.

So staff's analysis of this request is that it's in conformance with the general plan, the applicable design manuals, and it meets the intent of the high overlay to promote development of a long-standing vacant parcel within the historic district.

And it will recall will result in compatible land use relationships.

There were four attendees from the public.

Most of their questions revolved around the uh the program that Habitat for Humanity was proposing and how to qualify.

There were no public comments that have been received either in favor or against through the online platform.

The commission asked questions regarding the overall building height as well as the building materials located on the west side of the property.

After discussion and answers to those questions, the uh commission voted six to zero to recommend approval of the rezone request to city council.

And uh recommends that city council adopt ordinance 2016-0526 request to adopt a historic Avondale infill overlay to 0.16 acres, subject to the five conditions of approval as set forth in the staff report.

That concludes my presentation, and I'm available for any questions.

Thank you, Josh.

At this time, does any member of council have any questions regarding the presentation?

Councilmember Weiss.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you.

I do have a question with regards to um, do we have any other three-story buildings in that area?

Uh mayor vice, uh council member weiss.

At this time, there's no three-story buildings in that area.

However, that entire uh block and section is zoned to allow for up to uh believe 45 feet in building height or 35 feet in building high.

I'm sorry.

Okay.

And it looks like they've decreased all of the setbacks in the back, they have no setback.

So the wall will be right up against the fence line.

Is that correct?

In the picture?

Let me go back to the picture.

And I'm trying to also see right there.

And I'm also trying to see where the yards are.

So that's correct.

In order to accommodate the project, they have decreased the western property line.

Um, let me move to uh so the fenced yards are in between the units and then on the outer edges.

Okay.

Is that do you have any other follow-up questions?

No.

Okay.

Councilmember Slorio.

Thank you for your presentation.

I just um I like this.

Um, I'm a huge fan of Habitat for Humanity and what they do, creating a space, a place to call home with dignity.

So I just wanted to thank you for your presentation, and I'm good with it.

Mr.

Mayor, I'm sorry.

Uh, did Councilmember Weiss did you see his pointer when he pointed to start?

I did okay.

I just want to make sure and so they it looks like they have one gate that goes into um each one has a gate.

Councilmember White.

Thank you so much.

I appreciate the presentation.

Can we go back to the picture with the front of the dwelling rendering?

Thank you.

Um, uh how many garage spaces per unit do you know?

Or is this just a forecast?

Uh Mayor Vice Mayor, uh, Councilmember White, though each unit will include a two-car garage.

Thank you.

Councilmember Condi.

Thank you, Mayor.

Sorry.

Thank you for the presentation.

I am a big fan of habitat for humanity.

Um, in about 2015, um, my broker, um, we were able to go volunteer and help build the house here in Avondale.

And it was so amazing because the owners were there, so they have to put in some sweat equity.

So they were there helping us, and it was a wonderful opportunity um for us to be able to write scripture on the frame of the house before they did the drywall.

So um, thank you for the presentation, and I'm all for this one.

Councilmember Garcia.

Thank you for the presentation.

I also am a huge fan of Habitat for Humanity.

It's you know, bringing home ownership, people doing the work, but it also brings the community together, brings churches, nonprofits, organizations, all to build what is possible for these four families.

So I'm excited to vote yes and look forward to going out there and volunteering and helping to build these homes.

Okay.

This time I'd like to open up the public hearing on item 5C.

Marcella, any requests to speak?

Thank you, Mayor.

We have not received any requests to speak.

Okay, well, thank you.

Then at this time, I will close the public hearing on item side on item 5C.

Sorry.

Um, I know that we have uh the motion we did have the motion up here just a second ago.

Um, but I'll just speak to this project really quickly in that um, you know, we've been talking a lot about options and and housing options, and many council members have expressed uh how much they appreciate habitat for humanity.

Uh, but in addition to that, just with the area, considering um this infill overlay and the opportunity that exists with it right across the street.

Um, you know, the same type of uh property and for the same purpose.

And uh for that I I appreciate it.

So if I can get a motion from council.

We got a motion from Councilmember Garcia, a second from council member White.

Council Member Garcia, if you wouldn't mind reading the motion.

Motion to adopt ordinance 2016-0526, approving a request by Tana Nichols of Habitat for Humanity of Central Arizona to apply the historic Avondale Infield Overlay, H AIO to 0.16 acres located approximately 150 feet west of the northwest corner of East Hill Drive and North Fifth Street, and to approve the proposal, HAIO development plan, subject to five conditions of approval as set forth in the staff report, and authorize the mayor or city manager, city attorney, and city clerk to execute the necessary documents.

Thank you.

With that, can we get a vote?

Item passes unanimously seven to zero.

Thank you so much.

We look forward to seeing those properties as they're constructed.

Ron 5D, please.

Good evening, Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council.

My name is Therese Guajardo, and I'm the family services manager with the city.

Tonight I have the pleasure of presenting on our opioid youth prevention services grants and the updates for uh the conclusion of this first year of the grant cycle.

Thank you, Mayor and Council for supporting this endeavor.

In November of 2021, the city council granted approval for the city of Avondel to participate in the one Arizona Distribution of Opioid Settlement Fund Agreements.

This agreement was finalized in 2022, was part of the 2021 National Opioid Settlement, which resolved all opioid litigation from state and local subdivisions against most pharmaceutical distribution distributors.

In February of 2025, 200,000 was allocated for the opioid youth prevention services grant.

The maximum award per project proposal was $50,000 for the program year that ran from March of 2025 to February of 2026.

The organization, there were a total of six nonprofit organizations that applied with a total funding request of 244,000.

And the City of Avondale's opioid settlement committee was a part of reviewing all of the applications that came in to determine if they would indeed meet the needs of our residents.

And that comprehensive assessment included evaluation and criteria as well as selecting the level of funding for each of the nonprofits that applied to receive funding.

And the all of the members that participated in the committee were made up of neighborhood and family services department, staff, office of public safety staff, marketing and public relations, finance and budget, parks and recreation and libraries, and fire and medical.

The nonprofit partners that were awarded were Impact Suicide Prevention Center, Jobs for Arizona Graduates, Not My Kid, Sounds of Autism, and Youth for Youth Incorporated.

So now I'd like to cover uh the highlights for each of the awardees.

So total of 1,823 residents were served through the impact suicide prevention center efforts.

And a key outcome was evidence-based curriculum delivery with measurable gains that were in refusal skills, resource awareness, and prevention knowledge.

A success story that was shared with us was students demonstrated strong retention of prevention concepts through a Jeopardy-style activity.

This organization was awarded 48,000, and they reached the following high schools: Westview High School, La Jolla High School, Estrite, and Estrella High School, as well as elementary and K-8 schools, and Imagine Avondel School.

Jobs for Arizona graduates, a total of 200 residents were served, and their key outcomes to notate our intensive mentorship, leadership development, prevention education, and project implementation.

A success story that was shared with us was West Point High School students led the Be the Reason campaign, reaching more than a thousand students.

The high schools that were included were La Jolla Community School, West Point, and Westview.

Not my kid.

A total of 2,121 residents were served.

And the key outcome areas, strong gains in opioid risk awareness, overdose, overdose recognition, and help seeking behaviors.

Their success story that was shared was during a middle school presentation, one student shared, I really needed this presentation and discussed pursuing a career in mental health.

They were awarded a total of 50,000, and the schools served were Avondel High School within the Tallison Union High School District, La Jolla Community School, West Point and Westview.

Sounds of autism.

A total of 790 residents were served, and their key outcomes specialized outreach to vulnerable populations, families and first responders.

And their success story was they supported an Avondel family whose daughter was with whose daughter has autism and was struggling with addiction and is now in recovery.

The programs that they conducted were a mixture of in-person education training, school and youth forums, community partnerships, and social media and referral networks.

Youth for youth.

They served a total of 6,372 residents, and their key outcomes were large, they had a large overall reach.

Their success story was health occupation students of America, future health professional students educated 38 peers on overdose recognition and naloxon response.

The total amount that they were funded was $35,000.

And the schools served was Avondel Middle School, Michael Anderson School, Garden Lakes Elementary School, Imagine Avondel Charter School, Westview High School, and Agua Fi Fria High School.

So currently we're working on a new award cycle for all of the five nonprofits that were awarded originally.

They since they all had success over their first program year, we're currently working on renewing those contracts and funding them for an additional year and looking forward to seeing all of the amazing impacts that they continue to do in the community.

That concludes my presentation.

Mr.

Mayor and Council, if I could add to her presentation, and I did not make the practice, so I apologize putting her on the spot.

But I want to give a little credit to your team.

So just to make sure you know, we've been awarded these funds through the opioid settlement funds.

Our legal department has helped uh secure that finance, all the work.

Uh, assistant city manager Dale Nanagay leads the efforts to manage those funds.

Uh, Jerry and her team are trendsetters.

So they meet periodically uh in the county with other cities and organizations that use these same types of funds, and we by and far lead the pack in innovation and outreach.

If you would just take a minute, I was just told uh today about uh the autism out the sounds of autism.

The county had never the other partners never even thought about this uh dynamic that this group of residents uh and we're amazed at the outcome we had.

But if you could just briefly tell council how that meeting went.

Sure, absolutely.

We had a recent meeting hosted here with uh other members of the West Valley and the county, and everyone was very surprised that Sounds of Autism was applying for these funds and then was then awarded the funds.

And so they wanted to know how does this fit in with their current scope of work.

And we were able to share that.

Unfortunately, um, Sounds of Autism has worked with a family that has lost a loved one to an opioid overdose.

And this was a loved one that was a special needs, and so um most of you know Cricket, who runs that organization, and she said, hey, we have to do something about this.

This is not something that they normally specialize in.

But she really felt strongly about trying to make a difference in the community that she serves and educating those families as well as the young people that it can happen to anyone.

And one of the stories that Cricket shared is that she conducted this education with youth.

And what she does is she gives out like packages of Skittles.

And the kids are sitting there eating their Skittles and she's talking.

And then at one point she says, you know, who ate the purple Skittle?

And they raise their hand, whoever ate the purple Skittle.

And she's she uses that as an example to say, well, you just took a lethal dose of an opioid.

And do you see how easy that that can happen?

And so she uses that to teach the kids about being careful about what they're what they're taking.

And so yes, the county was really interested in learning more about that.

And they they thought, wow, I never even thought to even dive into looking at that population.

Well, thank you, Jerry, so much for the presentation and the information.

And the side of business for discussion only, but other members of council they would like to.

Councilmember Conde.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Jury, for coming for the presentation.

And I say, yes, yes, yes, let's get um this money to these nonprofits that are doing the great work.

And Cricket Barriantos and her team do such a fabulous job with really diving into the needs of those on the spectrum.

And like you say, is who would have thought to, you know, address those on the spectrum and having opioid use.

So thank you for being out there being the boots on the ground and connecting everybody.

And I'm looking forward, well, I won't be here next year, but I'll watch online to see what great work they've done with this money.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for this presentation.

Um that story is a little scary, but it's exactly what the kids need and to see all of the good work that these organizations are doing.

Narcan saves lives.

And it's sad that we have to even provide it to children and that children have to be careful to eat candy.

Um, but yeah, and especially like the sounds of autism, like who would have thought, but honestly, that's one of our most vulnerable group of people because if no one's educating and speaking to them or just letting them know because I I have autistic uh nieces and nephews, and if you tell them something, they're gonna educate everyone around them and everyone around them's gonna know exactly.

And it's it's it's wonderful that we have organizations in every part of this, especially in our in our schools.

I was really happy to hear all the all the high schools and all the schools in Avondale, and hopefully we could get them into more of the schools that way um more kids have the opportunity to learn about this.

So, yes, this is like amazing.

Thank you.

On the side, Councilmember White.

Thank you so much.

I appreciate the presentation.

I also wanted to um send a special thanks, Mayor Council.

Um, also recognizing former chief, our super chief, our assistant um city manager Nanogate, because I think the one pill could kill um started a few years ago when you were able to kind of hone in and bring that funding to the city.

So I wanted to acknowledge that publicly.

I don't think a lot of people we gotta know where we've been so we can know where we're going.

Um, I bring that up just because my son um is now at ASU, but he was a part of the Avondale um Youth Advisory Commission and really is serious about trying to stay away from harmful situations where kids are doing drugs.

The reality is um exactly what you said, though referring to those skittles, it's just that simple.

I even saw an item of litter on the ground, and I know Mr.

Corbin hates me picking up dirt without gloves on because you just don't know it could be a situation where you're picking something up off the ground in front of your home.

You you you have no idea, and somebody has put that opioid on that item and it can go through your skin.

And I didn't know that.

So um, you know, we have to go above and beyond to protect our children.

Um, and so I'm just thankful that we can receive these grant funding.

I'm happy that we're doing it in the schools.

I want us to continue to do that with and through neighborhood and family services.

So I just want to make sure that we stay ahead of this.

Um, there's so many um things that we have to do to protect our kids, but any life that we can save is is worth saving.

Anybody else on the side?

No.

Nope, Councilmember Weiss.

Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Jerry for the um presentation.

You mentioned a couple schools, um, like an overlap.

So one program was working with, you know, La Jolla West Point.

Is there anything when we are looking at this again where we where we expand that out, where maybe not an overlap necessarily in some of the um schools?

Because I can see where one school's getting multiple organizations coming in, and maybe one school is not.

Um, I love the program.

I think this is great.

You know, there's a huge dependency.

Once somebody takes an opiate, they can become physically dependent on them.

Um, and the drug cartels put them in all different kinds of um drugs to get you dependent and physically, you know, um dependent on them.

But my only question or my only thought is that you know, is there a way that when we're looking at these grants that we are leveling that that field out so that we're taking that those funds and spreading them out over a larger area?

That's all.

Sure.

Mayor, vice mayor, and council members, um, thank you so much.

Uh Councilmember Weiss for bringing that up.

Um, two things I want to point out.

The first one is is that one of the things that we challenge these nonprofits to do at the beginning of the grant cycle was to work closely together in partnership.

Um, and that's a little different when it comes to nonprofit work.

Um, a lot of nonprofits kind of stay in their lane, so to speak, and we challenge them to kind of reach across and support one another.

Uh and so we saw a lot of that happening.

And so when you're mentioning kind of that overlap, um, that was intentional uh because some of those organizations partnered up together.

I think that there's always room to expand and improve, and we'll be looking to that in the coming uh grant cycle.

Um, some of the challenges that these organizations face is some schools are a little bit um more uh open to having some difficult conversations than others.

And so luckily, all of these nonprofit partners are very skilled in having those discussions and have been continuing to follow up with the other schools uh to share the importance of getting that all of the info out to the community and to their school.

But thank you.

Councilmember Garcia.

Sorry, that just mentally boggled me.

And uh it would be awesome if we could relate to them also.

Maybe we could do a community event with one of the organizations and have parents present as well, maybe at one of the high schools.

Um, I think that would be so wonderful.

I mean, I would love like I my son goes to a charter school, so he doesn't get as many opportunities as the public schools do, but I would be I would take them somewhere where that was offered.

Thank you.

Yep, Councilmember White.

Thank you so much, Mayor.

Thank you so much again, Derek.

I have a question.

I don't know if this would um these funds uh as we look at making sure that we can get the education out there.

Um we have that one pill can kill program.

It it runs on um our public channel 11, but some of the renderings, because I do watch 1010 on 11 as well.

Um sometimes when you look at the screens, they're off.

You can't see the the information that they're presenting, or you can't hear the speaker.

So maybe if we can also use the funding or somehow get some funding to make sure wouldn't on our public service station, the the city channel we can tune into on cable 11 if we can make sure it renders correctly, because we do have a broadcast out there, or maybe have another program like she was saying, where we can film it again or do another go-round because the programming that's on TV right now, if you use cable 11, the public service station, unfortunately, it doesn't render correctly.

The the view is off of the presentation that is delivered and it's important information.

And some parents actually do get it that way by watching Channel 11.

They get to see even this, I think online right now.

Thank you, Councilmember White, for bringing that up.

We'll we'll definitely uh take a look into that.

Jerry, thank you so much for the presentation.

We appreciate oh, hold on.

Vice Mayor, no, I just like to take a different approach here just for a minute.

Uh too many times we could tell about or told about that bad things that happen and whatever else, and we we're always faced with it.

I appreciate the success stories tonight.

Those are the things that really need to be brought out.

Uh Dean and I working with our interfaith partnership.

They are a lot of individuals that want to work with one another.

And they do hard things and have to face those hard things as well.

But bringing to us the success stories, bringing that out more frequently shows that there's hope, there's opportunity.

And too many times it gets stopped right there.

And this is what it is.

I uh I appreciate we appreciate the success stories.

So continue to do that and uh just thank you very much.

Thank you so much.

We appreciate it.

Thank you.

Okay, item number six is summary of current events.

Any council members have anything they'd like to share?

Okay, let's start on this side first.

Uh okay, Councilman Silario.

So I just wanted to share that I received a scholarship through the National League of Cities for a six-week course on housing as a um economic development tool, which is a similar to a college course for the next five weeks.

It's an hour and 15-minute long class that the value of it is $1,500.

And we are able to apply for a grant, which we all love grants, um, to take that course and really learning about all our individual cities and seeing the types of housing that we want, um different kinds of housing, executive level housing, all kinds of housing and how housing really works, how you can truly have it all if you have a mix of um different things.

So it was very eye-opening because I know I learned a lot.

I thought I knew what I knew from here, and they opened up my eyes to something completely different that it is possible.

So I'm very excited about taking that.

Anything?

What councilman White?

Councilman White.

Thank you so much, Mayor.

I had the opportunity to go to um ASU today and be part of the audience for um President Michael Crow uh talking about New American University and really the um five-year plan right now for ASU.

So I just really um I I think even sitting there with him, he had the opportunity to share with us kind of where is ASU going, where have they been?

One of the neat things that he encouraged us to do is continue to stay innovative.

Um, and and he highlighted, you know, we look at um a lot of the things that are going on in the community, what we're not doing um at a very granular level.

Um, President Crow asked us all to think about is providing funding for students who want to attend ASU.

They don't get a lot of funding from the state.

Um, and they admit just about every student who applies.

So um that was really interesting hearing from President Crow.

And I just wanted to say, whenever we are looking at education funding in the future, um, maybe that can include helping some of Avondale students attend ASU.

Thank you.

Councilman Rakandi.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um, I just wanted just to share.

Um, first of all, thank the neighborhood and family services team, specifically Jamie with neighborhood and family services.

Um, our the church we attend at Kingswell Church had an opportunity to help paint um a resident in Avondale's home for free.

And so they reached out to neighborhood and family services and they identified a person.

It was like 80-year-old woman that lived in Cashin.

It was her and her sister.

So we were able to go out on Saturday and paint the front of their home to kind of beautify it.

And so again, I just want to just say thank you to neighborhood and family services for helping um us identify.

And so the Kingswell Mission, love God, love neighbor, serve Avondale, and that's exactly what we did on Saturday.

Thank you.

Councilmember Garcia.

I attended so um at Modern Grind, there is two businesses now that are hosting monthly uh coffee with vets meetup.

So uh veterans are getting together and we're just hanging out and talking to each other and networking.

And it's been this is probably the second time we're doing it.

So it's been such a wonderful opportunity to be with uh fellow veterans that are like really doing really big things out in the world, but also people who uh other veterans that need help, they come and network and see where they could um make friends because sometimes veterans have a hard time making friends that are not veterans.

Um so now they have a community here in Avondale.

We're meeting once a month at Modern Grind.

So if you're on the Modern Grind website, you could check out to see when the next uh meetup is.

And then I also attended Fiesta this uh past weekend, and the salsa was spicy.

So that was really fun.

Um, I really enjoyed it.

Um, I couldn't eat all of the the spec the spicy salsa.

Um, but I hope the winner really enjoyed um whatever they got for that because that was fun.

Um but thank you, Parks and Rec for doing that.

It was a wonderful event.

Vice Mayor Nelson.

I would just like to share with you that I had an opportunity to attend the Avondale Middle School spring tree planting event.

We planted 37 trees, and there were about a hundred and twenty kids involved and all kinds of things, and whoever the red bird is from whatever came down and visited with us.

Cardinals thank you.

That red bird guy.

And then I also had an opportunity to speak at Autism and Abuse Awareness event.

And uh very touching to see the people that were there.

I think they were more involved with what I was doing with my time with Boy Scouts, girl scouts, uh, deaf kids and and blind kids over my lifetime.

I was able to share that with them.

And then I think the last just the last final thing there is Lori and I got to stand in the middle of a runway out at Luke Air Force Base.

Well, the jets were taken off on both sides of your right there.

So you don't know whether you're getting bombed or whatever else.

But thank you for that advantage.

I know we're out of time, but if I can use I was assuming it's mayor's privilege, if you don't mind really quickly, uh Avondal Training Center.

Um, most of us, if not all of us were there.

Uh, thank you so much.

Um, and more importantly, it was great to kind of see a culmination of opportunity.

More importantly, um the uh fact that uh, as was mentioned by other council members that our um firefighters get to stay here local uh to take care of that much important training and the tour was awesome, showing all the different things that they have access to.

Uh also last week, um, a while back, I created a basket to donate to Read Better, Be Better.

And as part of it, I put in a card uh mayor lunch with the mayor.

And it's been a year, but all of a sudden I got contacted by uh principal Matt Williams with Desert Mirage Elementary as part of the Pendergast School District, who called and said one of his eighth grade students, Camillo Cruz won and wanted to um cash in on that lunch.

And so uh as uh I met Camillo.

He is a 13-year-old eighth grader who was going on 30.

Uh, he wants to uh study bioscience.

And when I asked him what you know, what made you put in for this basket?

Um, and again, going uh in regards to that 13 on 30 comment.

He said, you know, of all the things you could win that were that had bells and whistles.

I thought, you know what, not everybody can say they had lunch with a mayor.

I thought that was so funny.

Um so, anyways, congratulations to Camillo and thank you to his principal Matt Williams for making that happen.

I learned a lot from him, and it was a great discussion.

And we got to show off new penny.

New penny.

And then finally, um, just really quickly to uh to uh correlate, I'm sorry, to uh dovetail off of um Council Mr.

Garcia's comments in regards to the fiesta.

It was great.

Uh, I see that uh the logistics changed a bit going kind of uh north-south as opposed to just east-west.

And with all the folks that I had uh contact with, they were very appreciative of that opportunity of the event itself, and more importantly, just thought it was a great time to bring out all the local community.

Great job, public safety, uh, as well as um public park and rec staff.

Thank you so much.

All right.

Can I get a motion for adjournment?

Got a motion from Councilmember White, second from Councilmember Solorio.

Please vote.

And as a reminder, we'll start the Alamar meeting immediately following.

Adjournment passes 7-0.

Okay, at this point in time, I would like to call to order the Alamar Community Facility District Facilities District Board regular meeting of May 4th, 2026.

Item one is roll call.

Marcella, would you please do the roll call?

Board member Condi here.

Board member Garcia here.

Board member Solario.

Yeah, board member Weiss.

Here.

Board member White.

Present.

Vice uh Chair Nielsen.

Here.

Chair Pineda.

Here.

At this point in time, uh, the next item on the agenda is approval for the minutes.

Are there any requests to uh to consider them separately?

Seeing none, can we get a motion?

Got a motion from Councilmember White, second from Councilmember Solorio.

Can we please vote?

Item is passed unanimously.

Ron, next item, please.

Thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

Council.

Up next, we have a presentation by Renee Witherless, your district treasurer for the adoption of the Alamar Communities Facility District Fiscal Year 2027 tentative budget.

So good evening, Chair, Vice Chair, and members of the Alamora Community Facilities District Board.

Tonight we are here to present the fiscal 2027 CFD tentative budget.

So the district is planning to issue bonds this uh this year, and we'll assess a primary and a secondary property tax rate at a total of four dollars and fifteen cents.

So I would like to note that this property tax only applies to the property owners within the district boundary.

The primary property tax rate is capped at 30 cents, and that's to cover the maintenance and operations of the district.

The secondary property tax is $3.85, and it is used solely to repay the debt related to the bonds.

And the um secondary property tax amounts to that 1.1 million dollars.

So the total sources um for the district are $6,192,886, which is made up of an estimated $5 million for bond proceeds, as well as a total of 1.2 million for property tax.

Budgeted expenditures are $6,186,300.

The next steps in the budget process are to post a public notice in May and return to the Alamar CFD board on June 1st to hold public hearing on the final budget adoption and the property tax adoption, as well as to return for the authorization of those bonds by holding a public hearing on bond feasibility report and bond resolution.

So with that, as staff's recommendation for motion to approve resolution one-2026, tentative budget and expenditure limitation for Alamar Community Facilities District for fiscal year 2027.

That concludes my presentation.

Thank you, Renee.

And at this time, I would like to open the floor to questions from the district board.

Councilmember White.

I don't know if I understand.

Do they have the opportunity to vote on the bond in the district?

The residents in the district.

Um chair, vice chair, and board member white.

That is included in the property at the time of purchase.

Okay.

Thank you so much for the clarification.

Any other questions?

Seeing none, can I get a motion?

Got a motion from Councilmember Solori, a second from Vice Mayor Nielsen.

Please vote.

Item is you is passed unanimously.

And at this time, can I get a motion for adjournment?

We got a motion from Councilmember Solorio, a second from Councilmember Conde.

Please vote.

We are adjourned.

Everybody who's still remaining, please drive safe.

We'll talk, we'll see you in the next council meeting.